Boxing Champ Suspected of Wife's Murder Kills Self

Edwin Valero found hanging in cell, police say
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2010 9:09 AM CDT
Boxing Champ Suspected of Wife's Murder Kills Self
In this photo taken Sunday, April 18, 2010, Venezuela's former lightweight boxing champion Edwin Valero, left, is escorted by a police officer to a police station in Valencia.   (AP Photo/Edsau Olivares /Notitarde)

Edwin Valero, the former Venezuelan boxing champion arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife, killed himself in jail today. The 28-year-old, who was found hanging by his clothes from a bar in his cell, died around 1:30am, the AP reports. His wife, 24-year-old Jennifer Viera, was found stabbed yesterday in a Valencia hotel; prosecutors planned to charge Valero, who is said to have admitted to hotel security that he killed her.

Valero, a lightweight champion well-known in Venezuela as a crowd-pleaser in the ring, was charged last month with harassing his wife, and was arrested after arguing with a doctor and nurse who were treating her for a punctured lung, broken ribs, and other injuries. Police suspected him of assaulting Viera, but she blamed her injuries on a fall; Valero was placed under a restraining order, but he violated it repeatedly.
(More Edwin Valero stories.)

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